Zack Greinke Probably Shouldn’t Appeal When He’s Hitting

sussman171 10:30 am, May 30th, 2016

Zack Greinke is obviously very experienced in the appeal to first base. He has thrown thousands of pitches and no doubt had to appeal to first or third base hundreds of time to try and get a check swing strike call. It's become second nature for him to try and get that extra strike. The only problem with instinct taking over is when you're the hitter.

See, we are confident that Greinke knew what he was doing in this gif below. He checked his swing, was absolutely not going to allow the umpire to call a strike on him, when he KNEW he didn't swing. Thus, after checking his swing, Greinke immediately points to first base. The umpire had no interest in checking with first. Padres catcher Derek Norris had no interest in checking with first. Only Greinke. And only Greinke caused himself to get a strike.

The look of disgust from Greinke when he sees the first base umpire's call is classic. It's an immediate "I Fudged Up" face. The Diamondbacks would go on to beat the Padres 8-7 in Saturday night's game, with Greinke going six innings and allowing four runs, while striking out just two. Greinke finished 1-3 at the plate.

We know the Padres need plenty of help this year, but you'd think Zack Greinke would be disinclined.